CPJ alarmed by Cameron's threat against UK press

New
York, October 29, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by
threats against the press made by U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron in
parliament on Monday.

Cameron
said, "It would be very difficult for government to stand back and not to act"
against the press if newspapers "don't demonstrate some social responsibility"
and stop reporting on National Security Agency files leaked by U.S.
whistleblower Edward Snowden. Cameron singled out the Guardian, saying that the paper had "gone on and printed further
material which is damaging" after having already been accused of harming
national security.

Cameron's
previous accusations on October 16 did not cite any evidence that the decision
by the Guardian or other publications to publish the NSA files had been
detrimental to U.K.'s security. At the time, he urged members of
parliament
to investigate whether the Guardian had broken the law.

"If David Cameron has evidence that the Guardian or other
publications have damaged U.K. national security, he should share this evidence
instead of issuing vague threats about taking action," CPJ Europe and Central
Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "Governments around the world
look to the U.K. as a model for media policies, but in this case, Cameron seems
to be taking a page from the book of less enlightened governments that invoke
'social responsibility' to ward off valid criticism."

Cameron
mentioned the possibility of resorting to prior restraint, through high court
injunctions and Defence Advisory notices--government-issued but not legally
enforceable warnings not to publish materials sensitive to national security--or
through "other tougher measures," the Guardian reported.

Cameron
said he would rather not resort to such measures. "I think it's much better to
appeal to newspapers' sense of social responsibility." His remarks followed a
mention in parliamentby Conservative MP Julian Smith of a report in the
Sun, which quoted an anonymous intelligence source saying that
terrorists had "gone quiet" after the details of the NSA surveillance programs
were published, press reports said.

A spokeswoman for Cameron told CPJ, "The
prime minister's words were quite clear that he would hope newspapers would be
responsible with national security-related stories. National security has to be
a primary concern, and there are ways of having a debate on intelligence
without hampering national security."

Cameron's
statements come after the U.K. detention, harassment, and confiscation of files
and electronic equipment from David Miranda,
partner and assistant to Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, at Heathrow
airport in August. London Metropolitan Police held Miranda under Britain's
anti-terror law, and aggressively questioned him about the Guardian's
work on the Snowden files.

Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of the Guardian wrote on August 19 that
the paper had been subjected to official harassment over the summer and
pressured to either destroy or surrender the Snowden-leaked materials in its
possession. In July, two security agents watched as journalists destroyed
newsroom hard drives--despite Rusbridger pointing out that the information existed
outside the country.